


lesson learned & revisited

by tameable



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Pining, did i just rewrite that last scene in s3 with prowl to be happy?, just a bit shh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tameable/pseuds/tameable
Summary: There's never only one way out.
Relationships: Jazz/Prowl
Comments: 8
Kudos: 56





	lesson learned & revisited

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i wrote this in a haze somewhere between 3am and 5am & its only very loosely edited, so feel free to point out things i need to fix! also i cried rewatching the s3 finale while writing this lmao
> 
> all the same, prowls end never quite sat right with me. so i said fuck it and wrote my own version ft. a bit of jazz/prowl YEET hope yall enjoy!! :^)

Realization comes gradually to Jazz as he and Prowl meditate. Hope burns between them amidst approaching doom. _We've weathered so much_ , Jazz thinks, a tad desperate. This _won't_ be the end– they're so close! And yet–

"We're gonna need more spark to shield the city from that blast," Jazz says, clamping down on the sinking feeling in the pit of his tanks. Something's wrong. Missing, maybe? A sick dread spins his spark in its case. Incredibly, terribly wrong. No, no, no. What's _missing?_

The AllSpark floats above them. It shines bright enough to blind, cold and hot. Jazz's plating tingles and fluffs out. 

Prowl's EM field withdraws from where it was entangled with Jazz's. Jazz whips his gaze to his teammate, his _friend,_ and Prowl is– is trembling. Gasping to draw air into his vents. 

"Can't–" Prowl chokes, then starts again with an awful heave, "Can't… pull in… any more fragments." He hunches, obscuring his facial plating in shadow even as the AllSpark leaves him awash in blue light. "Only–" he chokes again, looking directly into the AllSpark's brilliance. "Only one way," he says with ringing finality. 

Jazz watches Prowl in confusion. His armor stops simply being awash in blue light, instead gaining an ethereal glow from within. His face is screwed up against the light yet set with determination. It leaves Jazz breathless in its beauty. And then Prowl's frame shudders and _lifts_ until Prowl is on optic-level with the jagged edges of the Frankensteinian AllSpark.

Jazz's awe freezes in his energon lines, gone and replaced with dawning horror. 

The AllSpark glows brighter. Clouds are blown away to leave the sky empty of all except the relic and its tithe.

"Prowl, _no!_ " Jazz screams, on his pedes in the next instant. He reaches a servo out, but Prowl's frame is just out of reach. "We'll find another way!"

Acceptance graces Prowl's fine features as he swivels his helm toward Jazz. His visor dims as if to say _No. We won't._

And Jazz… can't accept that.

He leaps before his processor fully catches up with what he's done. Prowl gasps as white servo pulls his pede out of its proper Siddhasana.

The white glow emanating from within Prowl's frame extends to envelop Jazz in its distantly nauseating warmth. Jazz goes weightless with only Prowl's frame to anchor him. 

Jazz half-climbs Prowl's frame, floaty and feather-light, maneuvering so that he's in front of his fellow ninja bot. The AllSpark's light limns Jazz in a halo where it shines at his back. 

Prowl's face falls as Jazz grips him by the upper arms.

"Jazz," he says, vocalizer shaking, "What are you _doing?_ " He's still radiant in the shade of Jazz's eclipse. 

"Finding a way," Jazz whispers, face only inches from Prowl's. Servos run along black plating and golden arrows, tracing seams. They stop at Prowl's own servos. 

Heat climbs to uncomfortable levels from the relic. Hot. Bright. Impossible to ignore. Jazz twitches, though he's careful to not let it show in a twist of his mouth. 

Prowl's servos unclench as Jazz weaves their digits together. An intimate gesture Jazz longs to savor, but he _can't,_ not now. Yet hopefully later. 

If this works. Dear Primus, just let it work.

Jazz ex-vents as he catches Prowl's optics. With Prowl's focus purely on him rather than what's behind him, Jazz parts his chest plates. The spark within spins faster as it's exposed. 

Prowl's digits tighten their hold on Jazz's. His optics are wide enough to be seen over the edges of his visor. "You can't possibly mean– intend for us to–"

Another burst of heat nearly melts the plating off Jazz's back. They both wince in the intensity of it. 

"Yeah, Prowler," Jazz says, his vents straining. " _Prowl._ I do. You've got a team. Pit, those mechs are part of why you've even gotten this far! And you– you've got me." Jazz squeezes Prowl's servos. "Trust me here, Prowl. Trust me to help. You gonna get all the way here only to stop accepting help when you need it most? Please," Jazz begs. They gasp with another influx of heat. Jazz's vocalizer goes staticky at the edges. "We'll get through this together like we have in the past. Like we will in the future."

Prowl bites his lip. Then all in a rush, he leans his forehelm against Jazz's, letting their legs brush together as he offlines his optics. 

"Together," he whispers. Black and gold plating transforms away. Jazz is bathed anew in blue light, this one an ardent comfort. 

Plating starts to melt. That nauseous feeling rises.

Prowl arches forward to meet Jazz's spark with his. Their sparks, their very _beings_ collide in a rainbow lambency they hardly notice. 

Both are immediately captivated instead by the effects. It's a wholly new merging of minds, an enveloping intimacy so rarely shared. Jazz feels Prowl's wonder as if it were his own. He's sure that Prowl can feel Jazz's own curious excitement. There's the sense of something solidifying, locking them together. A spark bond. It creates a feedback loop of shared emotion and experience that Jazz would be happy to get lost in, so long as Prowl was exploring it with him. 

And just like that, it's over. They both go briefly blind, sparks stuttering where they're merged as one. Their frames drop to the pavement on the roof and they stumble against each other, falling over on shaky struts. Chest plates automatically snap closed to break the connection of their sapped spark bond.

Newly re-formed, the AllSpark falls to the pavement next to them with a crash. Jazz would flinch if he weren't so drained. 

Next to him, servo still entwined as Prowl lays on his back, Jazz hears a giggle. One, then another, louder this time. Prowl breaks into full-on peals of laughter, not a little hysterical. It must be infectious because Jazz joins in, then groans as it jostles his aching frame. He settles for taking deep in-vents, reveling in the ability to do so. 

Primus. They're alive. _They're both alive_. And the AllSpark! Repaired, powered-up, and still in Autobot servos. 

Prowl wheezes as he calms down. He clutches at his side with his free servo, the swipes it down his face. 

"I can't believe you did that," he marvels. 

Jazz snorts. "I can't believe you did _that!"_

Metal scrapes concrete as Prowl shifts like he's going to stand, but he gives up on that a moment later. Silence reigns between them. Jazz lets it drag on. It doesn't feel like his to break. 

"Thank you," Prowl says finally, quiet and sincere. 

Jazz rolls his helm to look at his… his teammate? Friend? Partner, maybe?

Prowl resets his vocalizer. He's not looking back. "For being with me, I mean. I… needed your reminder."

"Always, Prowler, anything," Jazz replies, meaning it more than he should. Or just enough? Truth be told, he has no idea where he stands in the aftermath of their spark bond. Jazz can let it lie for now. It'd be in poor taste to push Prowl in the state he's in. 

"Even so," Prowl says, retracting his servo from Jazz's to lay his digits on his chest. Over his spark. "Thank you."

Jazz's palm feels cold without Prowl's to warm it. 

"Shall we?" Jazz asks for want of something to say– something that isn't horribly damning as to the emotions making his sapped spark clench. It was a decision made of defiance of fate and blind hope. Not… well, not that. 

"Hm?" Prowl asks. 

"Oh, I mean, uh, shall we get back to the others?"

Prowl vents for a moment. He nods. Frames aching, they haul themselves up. Prowl hobbles over to pick up the AllSpark. He holds it almost like a lifeline. Or a ticking time bomb.

"Right," Prowl says. Relief and pain etch his glyphs in equal measure. "Let's go see what our team is up to."

**Author's Note:**

> i recognize that this sorta thing would have a huge impact on interactions later, which i also wanna explore at some point, but i just.. really needed to get this part down first. will i come back/add somethin to this as a series? no idea! but its a distinct possibility >:3c
> 
> & if you wanna come scream at me you can find me @barbieprime on tumblr!


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